The U.S. Supreme Court starts its new session every first Monday in October. This year, the environment, First Amendment rights and consumer rights will be topics up for consideration, according to Marcia Coyle, from the National Law Journal. One of the big environmental cases involves the Navy's use of sonar and its impact on marine mammals. A big First Amendment freedom of speech case will take up the issue of whether monuments in a city park are private, protected speech, or government speech, which can be regulated. The consumer rights case getting attention involves the tobacco industry. A group of Maine smokers claim that under the state's unfair trade practices law, Philip Morris was misleading and deceptive about nicotine content in its labeling of light cigarettes. Businesses are fighting for pre-emption, which would prevent consumer from taking up cases in state courts. Coyle also outlines the court dynamics and how possible justice retirements could affect the court. Quotes "Of all these cases, [pre-emption] may impact more lives in this country... it involves companies trying to limit consumers or injured parties from using state courts and state laws to bring suits against them when they've been injured or harmed by a product."- Marcia Coyle, National Law Journal "Another direct First Amendment challenge involves a church in Utah, the Summum Church. It wants to erect a monument in the Pleasant Grove City Municipal Park... That's a case that's going to revolve around, what kind of a forum is this city park? And are these monuments private speech, which you can't regulate, or government speech, which you can?" - Marcia Coyle, National Law Journal "This may be the real drama of this term... There is speculation -- and I expect there will be increased speculation that several or one or two maybe, at most, will retire at the end of the term." - Marcia Coyle, National Law Journal Warm Up Questions 1.What does the Supreme Court do? 2. How many Supreme Court justices are there? 3. Name a few important issues that have been settled by the Supreme Court. Discussion Questions 1. Which case mentioned in the piece interests you the most? Why? 2. Looking at First Amendment rights, do you think a monument built by a church in a city park constitutes private or government speech? Give some pros and cons for each argument. 3. What happens when a Supreme Court justice retires and how could it affect the decisions the Court makes? 4. Discuss Barack Obama's and John McCain's attitudes about the law and the Supreme Court. How would the election of either one affect the court? Additional Resources Transcript of this report Online NewsHour: Supreme Court Watch